Paul Laurence Dunbar is an accomplished African-American novelist, playwright and poet of the late nineteenth and twentieth century in the United States. While growing up, Dunbar went through tremendous hardships, and he suffered from injustice as his parents were former slaves. This poem includes strong themes such as racism, perseverance and freedom. Surely, the comparison of the caged bird with the trapped life of the slave combines the surface meaning of the poem to its deepness. To this degree, “Sympathy” is a captivating poem worthy to be studied and analyzed semantically, semiotically and pragmatically.
The poem “I know why the cage bird sings” by Maya Angelou is a powerful and inspirational poem that everyone is can relate to. It reflects the lives of people who have been held back because they are part of a certain group. This poem carries a certain air of resonance relating to sorrow, captivity and racism; however it uses very simple diction and many figurative language devices. For many years, African Americans have endured many injustices, discrimination, and have been treated as though they are inferior. In this poem Maya Angelou establishes a clear difference between a free bird and a caged bird, which symbolizes an African American man or woman and a white man or woman.
The trapped bird is exemplified as a representative of an African American, while the free bird is a white man or woman. The whole poem is portraying the relationship between an African American person and a Caucasian person. The imprisoned bird also represents the victims of prejudice, and its strong desire for freedom is their prayer and appeal for impartiality and egalitarianism. Elucidating the feelings of racial discrimination, separation, and domination; this poem describes how she was the bird that was trapped and tied up and not capable to reach liberty. The caged bird can be interpreted as the black race being held back from freedom by their skin colour.
Bradstreet also shows her insecurity when she says, “Nor can I, like that fluent sweet tongued Greek” (129). Lee Oser believes that she lingered over the Greek’s traditions on natural beauty (194). Although Bradstreet has great dreams, she knows her limits as a woman and is left only to dream. Bradstreet soon becomes depressed and grows angry at her state in society, because of envy and her continuous dreaming. John Winthrop says, “God Almighty hath so disposed of the condition of mankind” (107).
" The caged bird songs with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom. " This quotation is a significant stanza of the poem, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelo. It explicitly displays the true meaning of the poem and defines actions of a " caged bird." Blackness of skin acts as a barrier for the black race; it prevents freedom from a person. During Maya Angelo's time her belief for freedom and equality began to spread among the black race, so she "sings" for freedom.
“Critics of the industry warn that the stresses of competition, coupled with an extreme focus on physical appearance, can have a negative effect long before these girls will be eligible for Miss America.” (Triggs, West and Aradillas 160-168) The loss of self-esteem, the inability to show a full range of emotions, the fear of failure, the extreme focus on physical image, and the discord with or fear of parents are a few of the symptoms those little girls will suffer from. Each of these symptoms, or problems, is not associated with all contestants in beauty pageants. They are
All of which others fail to acknowledge. Throughout the story, Hulga has a hard time coping with how other individuals perceived her deformity. Living with her deformity at times, often left Hulga feeling sensitive, hopeless and unconfident. Instead, of believing and being self-conscious about how others perceived her, Hulga searched within herself to truly distinguish who she is as an individual. Although, Hulga is not a very pretty girl, she uses her Ph.D. to place her beyond anyone else.
She is speaking for what she thinks are the feelings of all African American whereas Henry Longfellow focuses on one single man recalling his past throughout his entire poem. While Angelou states that they’ve lost their opportunities, Longfellow’s poem provides a sort of example to the kind of things they lost. As both of the poems begin to unfold, readers can immediately identify the amount of imagery that each poet uses to describe their own personal situations. In Angelou’s “Caged Bird” she is comparing the life of a caged bird to that of a free one. In order to portray the struggles of the caged bird the speaker says, “But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through the bars of his rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied...” In using visual imagery, the speaker depicts
Daisy remarks to Nick when recounting the birth of her girl 'that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool'. This is a very important part of the film because it underlines one of the main themes: women's rights. Daisy says this but she doesn't really believe it and although she knows that this is attitude is wrong; she doesn't do anything about it. This shows the weak part of her nature and how she is not willing to stand up against what is not right. Later in the film, Daisy rebels against the lack of women's rights but she does not succeed and then loses all hope and becomes a 'beautiful little fool'.
Barbie Doll has a few main themes that can be easily recognized; the main ones that Piercy addresses are the pressures of being a female and the desperate attempts to please others. In this poem, when the subject gets older she is told all the ways that she is not beautiful, while all of her good traits are ignored. Ultimately, it shows how the pressure of trying to measure up to society’s standards can cause an end to someone’s life. The poet makes the point at the end of Barbie Doll that for some women, fulfillment might only come in death. At the beginning of the poem the girl is portrayed as a typical little girl without a care in the world.